


The Alliance of the Diabolical Younger Siblings (HCs and Snippets)

by Haven247



Series: AFTG HCs and Snippets [1]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Andrew is mean until he finds out who Noah actually is, Big Brother Jean Moreau, Big Brother Neil Josten, Emotional Abuse, F/F, F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Jean and Neil are stressed to high hell trying to keep these hellions alive, Legion of Vengeful Cheerleaders, M/M, Noah Hatford is a Badass, Noah took all the self-preservation instincts in the womb, Past Child Abuse, Raven Neil Josten, Raven!Neil, Riko Moriyama is honestly his own warning, Riko is cold clocked and beaten up by a 16 year old girl, Riko is scared of cheerleaders now, Sophie Moreau is a Badasss, The Vixens protect each other, Verbal Abuse, Vixen!Noah, Vixen!Sophie, sibling dynamics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:07:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27094024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haven247/pseuds/Haven247
Summary: Nathaniel Abram Wesninski is born in a Baltimore hospital, red haired, blue eyes, just. like. his father. Twenty-three minutes later, Noah Bartholomew Wesninski follows his older brother into the world, blonde haired, grey eyes, just like their mother. Playing favorites with your children is never a good thing, and the day Noah learns his big brother is alive, that Mary lied, and Abram has been suffering for the past 8 years, he makes a decision. He is going to save his big brother from the Moriyamas-damn whoever thinks otherwise.The day Sophie Moreau learns her older brother is alive and was SOLD by their shitty parents (who are pushing her toward an arranged marriage) is the day she makes her Plan. The day she executes the Plan is the day she burns her childhood home to the ground, wrecks havoc throughout the city, kills her parents, fakes her death, and flees Marseilles. She meets Noah and the Hatford Syndicate on her way out. She's saving Jean, no matter what.Just some of my HCs and Snippets regarding their alliance to save their martyr older siblings. I might write some snippets from the HCs when I have time. Credit and special thanks to nekojita and everyone who made all those great HCs and AUS.
Relationships: Allison Reynolds/Renee Walker (All For The Game), Katelyn/Aaron Minyard, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Nicky Hemmick/Erik Klose, Seth Gordon/Allison Reynolds, to be added
Series: AFTG HCs and Snippets [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1977520
Comments: 7
Kudos: 51





	1. Noah Bartholomew Hatford (HCs 1)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nekojita](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nekojita/gifts).



> Disclaimer: I don't really own anything.
> 
> Credit and thanks to nekojita and everyone who posted such great headcanons and AUs. Check out nekojita's AO3 and Tumblr-writing is GREAT! Thank you for letting me post some of my own HCs and letting me write snippets about Vixen!Andrew, Twin!AU with Vixen Noah, and the Moreau siblings. I might write some snippets from the HCs when I have time. I haven't really posted much on AO3 before so if the formatting is off I apologize and will fix it when I figure out how to. Comment and Kudos are always appreciated!

Neil is canonly better at instigating fights then winning them. Noah on the other hand is better at _deescalating_ situations (Hatford temperament and his whole “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to murder everyone you meet” (Gen. Mattis). If he IS in a fight-he finishes them. Mary may have tried to keep her favorite child somewhat sheltered but Noah knows how to defend himself (between childhood under Nathan Wesninski and Lola Malcom, and lessons from his cousins and the Hatford enforcers). He’s had to kill before to protect himself and his cousins.

Noah LOVES Neil. He lost it at Mary when he found out his brother was alive, dropped everything to rescue him, ready to take out the entire Side Branch of the Moriyamas (hell the entire Moriyama crime family if it came to that), cut a deal with Ichirou, etc. To save his big brother. Noah is also, like that one post about that sibling online, the type of younger sibling to hold a seashell to his ear, look at Neil, and tell him (Neil) the ocean said he was stupid. He has actually done so.

Nathan and Mary played favorites with the Twins (in their own fucked up ways). Since Nathan focused his attention on ‘Junior’ & Neil did his best to protect his baby brother, Noah received more emotional/verbal abuse from Nathan and his henchmen then as mch physical abuse as Neil. Like, the both of them were physically abused but Neil took the brunt of it since he was their father’s ‘favorite’, the eldest, and he did his best to protect Noah.

This verbal/emotional abuse continued with Mary over the past eight years, and Noah would simply repress anything he felt-rage, what he wanted to say/how he felt. He’s been doing it since the age of four years old. Then Noah and the rest of the Hatfords learn Abram is alive, Mary lied, and Noah just SNAPS. Over a decade of repressed rage and feelings came out and it was Not Pretty. 

Noah is claustrophobic. Because when Nathan got annoyed at him or pissed off at something and wanted to take it out on Noah and neither Neil or Mary could stop him, he would lock him in the basement, in a broken freezer. The kind of freezer that's a box. At first he would cry and beg to be let out, but he would just be left there longer. Sometimes Lola would taunt him by kicking the freezer while he was in it. His claustrophobia has gotten better over the past eight years, but when they went to Castle Evermore, he could not enter the Nest because of his claustrophobia. The old freezer is still there, in the basement, in the Baltimore house-the inside is covered in scratch marks and dried blood from Noah clawing at the walls.

Noah hates his middle name. Fucking, _Bartholomew._

How to tell the difference between Neil and Noah (they’re fraternal twins so it's not actually hard):

Neil: *External Screaming*

Noah: *Internal Screaming*

Vixen!Noah truly enjoys being a Vixen and gets along great with the other Vixens. Andrew quickly finds out that his tormenting of Noah (who he believes to be a spy for the Ravens and is dating the pretty red headed Raven he likes since he spends so much time with Wesninski whenever the Ravens and Foxes have games) is NOT appreciated and there are consequences to his actions.

Vixen!Noah actually ends up winning Andrew over through the power of baked goods. Then they join forces to help rescue Neil.

Riko, who believes Vixen!Noah is simply some airheaded pretty thing a member of his Perfect Court is using (as a spy on the Foxes and for ‘stress relief’) doesn’t see Noah as a threat until it’s too late. By the time he learns who Noah and Sophie really are, Neil and Jean are safely away from the Nest, untouchable as ordered by the Main Branch, Riko is afraid of cheerleaders, and his and the Ravens torment continues as the Legion and the Strixes continue to make their lives difficult.


	2. Sophie Moreau (HCs 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some HCs about Sophie Moreau of her fleeing Marseilles, her 'parents', and being a Vixen. Comments and Kudos are always appreciated!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, credit and special thanks to nekojita and everyone who made such great HCs and AUs.

So, in a previous Ask for the Vixen!Andrew AU, Jean bonds with the freshmen EAU Strixes (EAU cheerleaders) as they ‘remind him of his younger sister’. The freshmen Strixes, who are ALSO some of the most  **_vicious_ ** Strixes who make Riko and the Ravens lives... _ difficult  _ (i.e. a living hell). So when you take  _ that  _ into account, and the fact the last time Jean saw his sister she was like six years old, you can probably figure out what Sophie’s personality is like.

Jean was about five when Sophie was born. He was actually the first one who got to hold her. Jean was SO HAPPY to be a big brother and strived to be the best big brother ever. And he really was.

Sophie has trust issues, for obvious reasons (i.e. her parents, crime family, etc.). So initially the Alliance between Noah and her is born out of the both of them wanting to help their siblings-but then they actually end up becoming BFFs and bonding by the time they are on the Vixen team.

Sophie has No Idea what happened to her big brother, and eventually her shitty parents tell her he’s dead (she cried for  **_weeks_ ** ). She couldn’t question it, she was five when he was gone one day and she didn’t understand what was happening. Then she sees an Exy magazine at age 13 with Jean ( her big brother is  _ alive _ ) on it. He has a tattoo of a number on his face and his grey eyes, just like hers, are filled with pain and resignation. He looks like he’s ready for Death to take him, and wishes for it. That is the day Sophie Moreau makes her Plan which is three years in the making.

Mrs. Moreau was  _ infamous _ in their world for killing off her husband’s mistresses-she would tolerate no possible rival. She knew they would gladly step over her corpse to become the new Mrs. Moreau and all that it entailed. One of the first lessons Sophie learns from her mother is this, and also how she subsequently finds out about what went down with the Wesninskis. It pissed off Mr. Moreau everytime it happened but he knew when he married her who and what she was.

Some of Mr. Moreau’s mistresses could be mean to Sophie _ (mean like Lola was to Neil and Noah) _ -Mrs. Moreau killed them not long after, in bloody ways as a message. It wasn’t really because she truly loved Sophie  _ (Sophie wonders if her parents ever really loved anyone or could love)  _ it was because Sophie was  **_hers_ ** . Like Jean was hers, and she decided on what would happen to either of them.  _ (She sold her firstborn, condemned her only son to a life of hell, and didn’t look back) _ . If she let attacks on her daughter, in her own house, slide she would look weak. Being considered ‘weak’ was something Mrs. Moreau could never tolerate.

Sophie always knew there was a possibility of her being married off to another crime family. It happens in their world, Mary Hatford may have chosen to run off with Nathan Wesninski when she thought she was in love and the alliance would benefit the Hatfords was a plus (and look how well  _ that  _ turned out). Her parents arrange a marriage for her and inform her when she’s fifteen, she could go and finish school and get a degree from a university, but was to marry the firstborn son of another crime lord once she graduated. He wasn’t ugly, or stupid her mother told her, and would not be cruel to her or her future children (which is literally the bare minimum). Sophie looks at that planned out fate and says Fuck. That. Noise.

Sophie looks at her possible futures, married (sold off) off to another crime family to a man that may or may not have morals no matter her own wishes, or her parents get into debt again and she’s sold off to an even darker fate. Sophie says No. 

Sophie executes her Plan at age 16. The entire Moreau family die in a ‘tragic accident’ as their home burns to the ground (there’s no evidence of all the documents, the contacts, the money, etc. that went missing-the fire likely burnt it all). The fire burns the bodies badly enough that only the parents could be identified (she poisoned them), and their daughter’s body is nothing but ash. Two hours later, all of Marseilles gangs erupted into a war, someone had stolen a substantial amount of money from one gang, and they followed the trail to another, etc. The death of the Moreaus has created a massive power vaccum, names of corrupt officials and police are released, the city is in chaos and it will take  _ weeks _ before everything settles down. No one noticed that night when a boat quietly exits the port, on it a teenaged girl with dark hair and grey eyes, with members of a British crime family helping her.

The only reason Sophie is not a Strix is because it was decided it’d be too dangerous to be in Castle Evermore. Whether it’d be dangerous for her, or the Moriyamas and/or the Ravens was not explained.

Sophie, when she goes to PSU, uses a fake surname so no one knows who she really is. Sophie is 16 during TFC so I think what would happen is the Hatfords would give her fake documents saying one (maybe one of the older Hatford cousins, an enforcer, or Uncle Stuart?) of them was her legal guardian and she was just going to college early, if she doesn’t lie about her age.

Riko would have gleefully informed Jean about what happened in Marseilles, that his beloved younger sister was dead, (“Burnt to death.”). But Tetsuji forbade it as threatening Sophie helped keep Jean under control.

Sophie reunion with Jean is both of them hugging and crying. Noah managed to meet up with his brother, and Abram (as a Raven he’s not called Neil) informs Jean that both their siblings are here. It’s after a Ravens game with another college Exy team that Jean is able to get away for like 5 minutes to reunite with his baby sister. But Sophie stiffens when she feels the extensive scar tissue through her brother's shirt, and how he winces because she is putting pressure on bruised ribs, he wasn't hit in the entire game. She looks at the faint scars on his hands (she knows what poorly healed broken fingers look like, she’d seen her fath-Mr. Moreau do it to people) and gets a cold look in her grey eyes when she puts two and two together.

  
Sophie knows she has barely scratched the surface of what her brother has endured for the past _ ten years _ in Evermore, but she has an idea of it. Both Tetsuji Moriyama and Riko Moriyama were going to die, there would be no argument on that.


	3. Raven Neil/Nathaniel HCs 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some ideas of what Raven Neil/Nathaniel is doing in Castle Evermore in this 'verse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment and Kudos are always appreciated! Feel free to add what you think, or comment more on the HCs. Comments are Food for more chapters.

Meanwhile, in Castle Evermore, Neil/Nathaniel struggles not to vomit and/or kill someone whenever a Raven asks about “his Vixen”. Since Riko never met Noah and figured ‘Nathaniel’ was hooking up with some airheaded male cheerleader and it was a good cover.

That, and Jean having to lie about them “sharing” Noah as Raven partners share everything to cover up how Jean is the middleman between him and Noah, and keep Noah’s identity and the Plan a secret. The whole thing is a lie to keep Riko from finding out about Noah, but ewwwwwww.

Because the other Ravens PROBABLY make comments about it, and Neil/Nathaniel actually almost bashes a Raven’s head when they walk up to him and ask him if he was willing to “share” the Vixen with not only Jean, and how much it would cost to do so.

That Raven nearly died that day, and Jean (6’2-6’5 ft.) struggled to hold back his partner (5’3 ft.)

~

Neil/Nathaniel and Jean talk about their younger siblings with each other in their room, and bond over both being older siblings who are in the hellhole of Castle Evermore to protect their younger siblings

Neil/Nathaniel knows that Noah is better protected by the Hatfords but there’s still the chance of the Moriyamas killing his baby brother.

Jean is arguably in a worst situation, since Sophie is not protected and Riko has more than once threatened Jean into compliance by telling him they’d send for Sophie to be brought to the Nest.

~

First time Riko threatened Noah, Neil/Nathaniel actually punched him in the face and pinned him against the lockers before he was pulled off and subsequently brutally punished

(Neil/Nathaniel does not regret it. And that was the day he decided to he was going to kill Riko one day)

~

Neil/Nathaniel and Jean escape the Nest with the help of the Strixes and their Coach since _both_ Tetsuji and Riko avoid them whenever possible

~

While Raven Neil/Nathaniel is overjoyed at seeing Noah again, he is also terrified for his baby brother’s safety and tries to get him to leave. Noah simply asks if it was the other way around (Noah at the Nest, and Abram free) if his big brother would simply leave him behind

Raven Neil/Nathaniel can’t really argue with that successfully

~

Neil/Nathaniel is 5’3 ft. and Noah is 5’1 ft. Aside from being 23 minutes older and holding that over Noah’s head, he is also Taller, and thus the Alpha Twin. 


	4. Noah Bartholomew Hatford (Wesninski) HCs 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some more Noah Headcanons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: There is mention of attempted sexual assault of Noah when he is very young, it is not graphic but if you wish to skip it is from *** to ***. There is also mention of emotional and verbal abuse and how Noah attempted to cope, which you can skip, it is from /// to ///.
> 
> Posting this little chapter because I have a Biochemistry Exam tomorrow and I needed a break before I started crying. Again. Also it's been a real wild introduction into the month of November and I needed to do something that distracted me. I will, at some point, write and post an actual Snippet since I'm bad at writing full length stories. 
> 
> Feel free to Comment and add in your own ideas!

***  
When Noah and Nathaniel were 10, about a month before Castle Evermore and his older twin’s ‘audition’. Nathan took Noah with him and Lola (no matter how much Mary yelled at him or Neil tried to stop them-it’s how Neil got a few more knife scars) into the city. Noah was quietly terrified and figured he was about to die, at the age of 10, at the hands of his own father. He took Noah to a building, and brought him to a windowless room with a bed. He looked Noah in the eyes, smiled his Butcher smile, and told him what happened next was all up to him. 

Lola smiled, handed Nathan a knife, and Nathan slipped the blade into Noah’s pocket. A strange man came, giving Noah a look (Noah didn't understand what it meant at the time) and handed Nathan some cash. Nathan and Lola left the room and shut the door, the man locked it, and walked towards Noah.

Noah, in that moment as the man walked towards him, understood what the knife was for then, and that he wasn’t going back home alive (home to his big brother, to Abram) if he didn’t Do Something.

The man doesn’t touch him at all. Noah leaves with sixty dollars in his pocket, bloodied clothes, the knife Nathan lets him keep since he’s “earned it”, and More Childhood Trauma. It’s still the only time Nathan looks at him with anything besides contempt (too much Hatford in his youngest, so weak), something almost like pride. Lola gave him and ‘Junior’ a bowl of rocky road ice cream to ‘celebrate’ while Mary fought with Nathan. To this day, Noah cannot eat rocky road ice cream anymore.

(He keeps the knife.)  
***  
///  
Noah hates being yelled at, like if it’s someone he doesn’t know he’ll bite back in his own way. But with Nathan or Mary, he would shut down, go nonverbal since speaking up didn’t do him any good, and he's in the present but he’d try to get himself to almost escape in his own head but he couldn’t do it successfully. He would be aware and stressed to high hell but also somewhere stuck in the middle, can’t completely escape but not completely there either. 

It would be very hard for him to get words out, and there would just be this fear and white hot rage simmering in him and in those moments he was sometimes surprised by his thoughts of bashing in Nathan or Mary’s heads-depending on who was yelling. 

When they were kids, Neil would rescue him by doing something to get the attention (and subsequent rage) turned on himself. But when Mary ran and took Noah with her there wasn't really anyone to protect Noah anymore.

His uncles and cousins didn’t realize anything was going on since verbal and emotional abuse are what Noah was subjected to and Mary never really did it in front of people.

It’s not until the whole shitshow of finding out his brother was alive and Mary lied, settled down and Uncle Stuart found out after Noah’s 'Over A Decade of Repressed Rage and Feelings' came out.

(It took Stuart, several cousins, and three enforcers to stop Noah from killing Mary with his bare hands. All of those fighting lessons they gave him paid off.)

(Mary actually ended up in the hospital while Noah leaves for Palmetto.)

Noah goes to PSU, goes to therapy with Bee, and it helps.  
///  
At some point, Noah grew so terrified of Nathan that he just skipped straight to being pissed off.  
~  
So Neil/Nathaniel doesn’t have many tricks to pull in a fight since when he fought back he didn’t get very far, though he’s not totally helpless and still remembers the things he learned from Lola.

Noah on the other hand, has spent eight years with the Hatfords and learned from his relatives and their enforcers. He packs quite the punch.


	5. Andrew HCs 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andrew is a Disaster Gay, which I feel like we all know, and at first is very suspicious of this new Vixen who he believes to be a 'traitor', and a spy for Riko/The Ravens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to Comment! Comment and Kudos are ALWAYS appreciated!

Andrew’s torment of Vixen Noah (who he believes to be spying for the Ravens and dating Wesninski since they spend so much time together when they can) has to die down after Noah bites back with surprising efficiency, and the intervention of Renee/The Foxes, and the Vixens and their knife pompoms.  
~  
The rest of the Foxes stepped in since all the Vixens square up when one of their own is threatened and life got REALLY difficult for the Exy team for a solid month.  
~  
Andrew actually refers to Vixen Noah in his head as ‘That Ho’, until he learns the truth about the whole situation.  
~  
So at first Vixen Noah decides to try flirting with Kevin to try and find out more about the Nest, the Moriyamas, his brother, and etc. He’s not actually interested in Kevin; he just wants to rescue his big brother. 

Unfortunately, this leads Andrew, who is not aware of the actual situation at this time, to believe that Vixen Noah (That Ho) is not only spying for Riko and the Ravens, but also cheating on Wesninski with Moreau, Day, and who knows who else!  
~  
When Andrew does find out about the whole situation he helps Vixen Noah, and Noah actually won him over through the power of his baked goods, and they also spar regularly now.

(Noah wins most times, but Renee beats both of them.)  
~  
Andrew actually is not able to do the whole ‘Test’ thing at Columbia with Noah since Noah is NOT a Fox, but a VIXEN. 

Aaron was already kinda dating Katelyn at the time and didn’t want his relationship with her ruined if they hurt one of her friends. The rest of the Foxes didn’t want to deal with any more Stress from the Vixens if they went after one of their own, and Kevin was pretty sure that one 16 year old, gray eyed Vixen would kill them all in their sleep if Andrew tried it.

(Kevin, is not entirely wrong).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment and Kudos are ALWAYS appreciated!


	6. The Baltimore House (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somewhere outside of Baltimore, Maryland. Years ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which I finally post an actual Snippet/Chapter. Please tell me what you think in the Comments below! I don't have a Beta so if there any mistakes I apologize and I can fix them. Comment are Food for more Chapters.
> 
> WARNING: This snippet references/has descriptions of the child abuse Neil and Noah went through. Descriptions of animal abuse.

“Did He take you to The Basement, again?” The younger twin whispers in their shared bedroom, it’s pitch black ( _Are you so_ **_fucking pathetic_ ** _you need a nightlight, boy_ ), two beds on either side of the room, a mirror, a dresser, a closet, a bathroom. It has no other decoration, no toys or posters that would’ve likely been seen in any other childrens’ room-but not in the Wesninski household, _never_ in the Wesninski household.

They may only be eight years old but the Wesninski Twins know pain and suffering in a way that no child ever should.

It’s always referred to as ‘The Basement’, just as he is always called ‘He’ or ‘Him’, or ‘The Man’ in Noah’s head.The Basement fills both twins with as much fear as ‘The Box’ does the younger twin. The Box is in The Basement, and He puts the youngest in it to hurt the eldest-or just for fun.

The elder twin makes a soft sound, barely there, as he stiffly climbs into his own bed. The younger’s chest hurts. The Man and the Woman ( _Knives and pain, cruel smile painted with red lipstick,_ **_Lola_ **) had hurt his older brother a few days before, and the younger had been the one to, forced to, apply the stitches the best his small hands could under the cruel, watchful eyes of His men. 

There had been so much blood, it made his gloved hands slippery and they wouldn't let the older one have anything for the pain, the Men ( _Jackson, Romero)_ told the older if he made a sound they would lock the younger in ‘The Box’, and the older would have to go through his ‘lesson’ all over again.

(The older bit his tongue until it bled, never making a sound for the entire, agonizing hour as the younger tried to finish the stitches as quickly and carefully as possible. _‘I’m sorry’s’_ and _‘It’ll be okay’s’_ shooting from gray eyes to blue ones that are so much like The Man’s, and yet are not.)

The younger shifts from his blankets, and whispers the name no one else calls the older, not even mom. It is always either Nathaniel (mom) or Junior (The Man, The Woman, and His Men).

“Abram?”

Abram shifts his body in acknowledgement as Noah slides out from his bed and climbs into his brother’s next to him. They had never truly been apart from each other, they had shared their mother’s belly, a crib, and now a room. 

There is a familiar scent of metal, but if Abram were bleeding himself he would tell Noah, or more likely Noah would’ve been dragged out of bed to fix up his brother. Another lesson then?

His brother shifts and turns to him, Noah’s eyes having adjusted to the dark hours ago and he can see his brother’s blue eyes look hollow. So it was another ‘lesson’.

“There was a cat,” he whispers, “it was in a box and there were kittens.”

Noah doesn’t say a word, he lets Abram speak. It is something that Noah in later years would call something like a ritual between the two of them.

“Lola put the cat in a cage, and there was a big bucket of water…”

Abram tells the story in a detached sort of way, like it was something he had read about and was telling Noah. Like when he would read Noah stories even though Noah could read just fine by himself.

“The cat was screaming, trying to get to her kittens.” “The water was so cold it burned my hands, and the kittens kept trying to escape.” “Lola tossed me a knife, after pinning the cat and told me to…”

(There’s more than one way to skin a cat.)

Noah hugs Abram, and Abram hugs back as he shakes. Abram didn’t want to do it, would have no doubt gained a few new scars in his refusal, but then The Man had said,

_“You better pick up that knife, Junior. Or I’ll drag your brother down here.”_

And so Abram did what he was told to do. He would always do what he was told, _always_ , if it meant that Noah wouldn’t be the one who got hurt by The Man, or worse. Neither of them were stupid, for all that The Man, the Woman, and His Men say they are. Their parents had their favorites.

Noah is their mother’s favorite, with his blonde hair and gray eyes so much like her own, and he lacks the Man’s temper ( _The Man views him with contempt, too much of a Hatford the youngest is, a weakling only kept alive because hurting him kept Junior in line_ ). Mary is affectionate with Noah, as much as someone like Mary can be affectionate. Noah was the one she had named fully, while Nathan got to have his ‘Junior’.Noah is hers, not Nathan’s, not anyone else’s, _hers_.

It’s why she barely pays a glance toward her eldest son, who is their father’s favorite with his red hair and blue eyes just. like. their father’s. Abram who is only ever called ‘Nathaniel’ by their mother, and ‘Junior’ by everyone else. The one that their father favors in his horrific way, and pays attention to. It is shown in each and everyone of Abram’s ‘lessons’ and marked on his skin for the rest of his life.

(Noah can still remember Abram’s scream blending with his own, mom’s shout, and The Man’s laugh when that hot iron was pressed against his brother’s skin. The smell of burning flesh and fat filling the air. He will never forget that day.)

Noah doesn’t know what the look on his own face says ( _with everyone but Abram, he is whatever he needs to be, but Abram can always read him as much as Noah can read Abram_ ).

Abram pulls his brother tighter in the hug.

“Don’t worry about me, okay, No’. I’m your big brother, it’s my job to protect you.”

Noah huffs, by this point it’s an old argument, and he knows his brother is trying to make him feel better by bringing it up. Even when he’s hurting, Abram still looks after him first, “You’re only twenty-three minutes older than me.” _I can help too, I can protect you too, don’t let them hurt you because of me._ But he hugs back tighter as well, it’s an old argument after all, one they already know the answers to.

They would both sacrifice themselves if it meant the other could be safe.

With their parents playing favorites, the hell that is their home and childhood, with living with The Man ( _Nathan_ ) there is one real truth they both know. 

They can only ever trust each other, they can only ever rely on each other.

No matter what happened, what came next, they would look out for each other with all that they had.

~

~

~

Ten years later, Noah Bartholomew Hatford really proves it by bringing hellfire and brimstone alongside Sophie Moreau to rescue both their brothers.

The Moriyamas are _not_ prepared.

(No one is).


End file.
